johndiligent

"What do you want to do with your PhD, especially those focusing on Christianity? Do you expect to teach or to work for a denomination or to do pastoral work or something else?" I don't expect to teach, because I'm not an idiot. That's simply what I would most like to do. Working for a denomination, doing pastoral work, etc. are not options for me, because I'm in Religious Studies, not Theology. I'm not an in-faith scholar. "If you plan to teach, where do you see yourself: at a research university, at a top liberal arts university, at a smaller local school, at a state school, at a secular school, at religious school, at a seminary, at college?" At any one of those options that would hire me, except for a seminary, for the reason mentioned above. "Do you expect research to continue take up a large part of your time after you finish your dissertation?" Obviously. I'm an academic. "Have you looked into job opportunities, or is getting a PhD something you just know you need to do and the rest will be provided for?" I am aware of the extreme difficulties of getting an academic position in our field, and I am doing everything that's recommended to improve my chances when on the job market. My ideal career - being a professor, requires a PhD, and that's why I'm getting one. But I understand that there's nothing remotely certain about a job in academia. I can do everything within my power to be an attractive candidate, but ultimately I am aware that odds are I will not be successful. "...Christianity (especially pre-modern Judeo-Christianity as well as theology-y things) seems to be far and away the most popular aspect of "religion" at the graduate level." On these boards, I think, but I don't think that's true of the academic world as a whole, at least not anymore. Of the 30 odd graduate students at my department, there are probably only five of us who study Christianity. I think these boards tilt appearances toward Christianity because there are a lot of MDiv/MST/MTS students on the board (in fact, there seem to be more of them than those interested in the academic study of religion). "It seems like desire to get a PhD far outstrips the number of spots available every year and that it is much harder to get in a PhD program in religion than in almost any other field that I've seen (one exception could be literature)." Philosophy, I'd say, is comparatively much harder. "I am very curious about what people want to do with their PhD in say the New Testament or Early Christianity or Systematic Theology or the other theology, because thinking back on the boards from last year, I feel like in the other topic I followed (sociology) there was much more talk about whether one would want to teach or not teach, and where one would want to teach, whereas on the religion subforum, there was a much stronger emphasis on the long standing desire to get a PhD with much less discussion of what would happen after." I thought we discussed career aspirations plenty on the board last year, but maybe my memory is going. I'm in EC, and I want to teach. Since my research interests are also foci of interest in other fields, I can also apply for positions in cognate disciplines. "I am honestly just really curious because I don't know what an ideal outcome means here, I mean other than teaching at Chicago or Harvard or Duke or which ever other top research university you can name. Presumably, most people want to do that." I'd be a bit more realistic and state that an ideal outcome is getting a teaching job at all, regardless of whether it's at a top research university or not.

saint christopher

class action

heavenly host

It's not the applications that worry me but having to go through another six months worth of WAITING.

pea soup

sweet pea

Why would you have Facebook friends who are so out of touch with your life that they wouldn't have the slightest clue whether you already have a PhD or not? And if they're that out of touch - as in you're never ever going to speak to them directly so they'd have no idea what's really going on with you and could only deduce it, albeit errantly, from your profile - does it really if they get it wrong?

As far as my field is concerned, the ideal grad school laptop doesn't really differentiate itself from the ideal general-use laptop. It needs to be relatively reliable, able to run Microsoft Office products, and wireless internet capable. Bonus if it's light to carry. Since that covers 99.9% of all laptops on the market, I'd just buy the best computer that I could afford. While some people have brand preferences, I think those really just emerge from which they had for the longest and gave them the fewest issues but sometimes that's just luck of the draw. Personally, I love HP's, since the computer I had prior to my current one was an HP and lasted seven years with few problems. On the other hand, my brother had an HP laptop for less than a year before it crapped out on him. I'd just make a list of what you need in a computer, go to your retailer or website of choice and find the computer that best matches your needs and your budget.

I agree with the above. I think you should have a frank talk with a trusted advisor at your current school, ask him/her about academic incest, and ask if he/she honestly feels such a move would be detrimental to your career. Then make your decision from there. Depending on which school you're attending, it might not be the worst thing in the world, but you need someone with experience to help you gauge what it'll mean for you down the road.

So the season's over, I was accepted to several MA programs, made my decision last week and I'm very happy about it. At last, for the first time since I started working on my applications in August, I can finally, finally relax and feel satisfied. Applying to grad school is over. And then it hit me. I'll have to restart the whole process again in just a year and a half, for 2012 PhD applications! GAH! Will it ever end?!

Good luck!

Burger King

American Pie

Fourthing what's been said.

I've put a lot of stock in how schools have treated me in general. I was in a lucky position of having multiple schools to choose from and I chose the school that treated me the best - the one that answered all of my questions promptly, responded thoughtfully to anything I sent them, took the initiative to call, etc. But there were two schools on my list that I rejected straight up pretty much due to their general asshattery. Never answering questions, never talking to me directly, ignoring me once they realised they couldn't match the financial offers I got elsewhere, etc. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. A lot of schools screw themselves out of their accepted applicants.

Spy Kids

All good reminders for next year's crop of candidates.

You're Beautiful

fairy tales

If you're sure, I don't see why you shouldn't write to them and tell them that you'd like to withdraw your application. It'll speed along the decision process for others and you don't necessarily have to explain to them why you're withdrawing if you'd prefer not. Once you have the right fit, you have it and there's no sense in delaying.

channel changer

I've been thinking about getting an iPad eventually, since I have an iPod touch and use it almost constantly (and as I understand it, the iPad is really just an iPod touch but bigger). I usually leave my laptop at home unless I'm planning on working on an essay or something, and just take my Touch which I can use for internet browsing, checking e-mail/Facebook, To Do lists and other organisational/life management tasks, basic research, checking source texts, reading PDF's, etc. The only major drawbacks to using the Touch as your portable computer of choice are that the keyboard is too small to type anything lengthy and the screen is too small to do much reading comfortably. Both of these will be solved by the iPad. That said, I absolutely won't be buying the 1st gen of the iPad. I thank my lucky stars that I got the 2nd gen iPod touch and not the first. Apple always releases something with the intent to later refine and make it better. For that reason, people who snap up the first release usually get a raw deal. By the 2nd or 3rd gen, they'll likely have addressed the biggest beefs with the iPad. Also, if anyone computer savvy is reading this, I'd like it if someone would make a Zotero app for iPod touch/iPhone/iPad that would sync up to your Zotero library, so you could have all your citations/saved books on the go. You'll be rewarded with gratitude.

water works